A wild heart beats: meet the winner of The Australian Fiction Prize

Katherine Johnson grew up dodging bindi-eyes in the backyard of her family’s old Queenslander. Like so many kids in the 1970s, she almost always had a book under her arm.

Tasmanian author Katherine Johnson, the winner of The Australian Fiction Prize for her novel set on Maria Island off Tasmania’s east coast, photographed near her home at Hinsby Beach in the Hobart suburb of Taroona. Picture: Peter Mathew

Katherine Johnson grew up dodging bindi-eyes in the backyard of her family’s old Queenslander. Like so many kids in the 1970s, she almost always had a book under her arm.

“I dreamt of being a writer,” she said, and today her dream is fully realised: Johnson, 53, is the inaugural winner of The Australian Fiction Prize, a prestigious new literary award sponsored by The Australian newspaper and Australia’s leading publishing house, HarperCollins Australia.

The announcement left Johnson, who now lives in Hobart, nearly speechless. The Australian Fiction Prize comes with $35,000 in prize money and publication by HarperCollins.

Johnson’s winning manuscript, tentatively titled A Wild Heart, is about a spirited young woman called Min who has grown up on rugged and remote Maria Island, off the east coast of Tasmania. Other characters include a shipwreck survivor, a journalist visiting from London, a barefoot botanist and Min’s over-protective father.

There is a magical sense of place – Maria Island shines from the pages like a jewel – and the prose is delicious, which makes sense, because this is not Johnson’s first rodeo. Her first book, published almost 10 years ago, was based on the lives of Patagonian toothfish poachers in the waters off Heard Island; she’s since written three others.

Tasmanian author Katherine Johnson. Piicture: Peter Mathew

The Australian Fiction Prize does not restrict entry to “debut” or “emerging” writers. It is open to anyone who wants the shot of adrenaline it brings. More than 500 writers put forth a manuscript, making it one of Australia’s most hotly contested literary ­contests.

The head of fiction at HarperCollins, Catherine Milne, who now has the job of ushering A Wild Heart towards publication in 2025, said: “It stood out straightaway as a serious contender; we all loved the evocative, wild setting of Maria Island, the beautiful nature writing, the plot propelled by a mysterious death. It will be a joy to publish and bring to readers everywhere.”

Judge Letitia Davy, of Gleebooks Dulwich Hill, described the work as “an atmospheric, absorbing and tender novel. I was transported to this wild place and felt deeply for Min, our 18-year-old protagonist who is torn between duty and a desire to live a life that is her own. There is something magic in these pages.”

Literary agent Samuel Bernard, who was also on the judging panel, was also full of praise.

“Without a doubt, this cinematic tale is a deserving recipient of the inaugural prize,” he said.

Johnson told The Australian that she was “just thrilled” to win the prize.

“It’s such an honour, and to be the first is also incredible,” she said. “I’ve been sitting working on this for so long and now this has happened, and I can’t describe how happy I am.”

Turn to Review for an interview with Katherine Johnson, inaugural winner of The Australian Fiction Prize.